


Maria Hill is Offered a Job

by celtic7irish



Series: It's All Up-Hill From Here [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 17:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13931916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celtic7irish/pseuds/celtic7irish
Summary: SHIELD has fallen.  Tony comes to Maria with a proposition.  Fury approves.





	Maria Hill is Offered a Job

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how many stories might or might not be in this series, or where they'll fall. It'll just depend on what I feel like writing.

Maria stared across the desk at the man seated casually in her office.  He stared back, obviously amused, his ankles crossed and his hands folded over his stomach as he slouched indolently.  “I’m going to need you to repeat that, sir,” she said politely. 

 

Tony Stark’s grin widened.  “Gladly,” he purred, looking satisfied.  “I said, now that SHIELD is gone, I want you to work for us full-time.  Stark Industries Head of Security. I promise you the benefit package alone is worth it.”  He smirked. “I’d like to say that you’ll be shot at less, but then I’d be lying, because let’s face it.  I’m the kind of person that tends to get shot at.”

 

Maria ignored that last comment, mulling over Stark’s proposal.  She knew that the previous Head of Security, Happy Hogan, had been promoted to Pepper Potts’ personal bodyguard and chauffeur, which left the position open.  But was she interested? If she was honest with herself, she really was. She’d been considering moving into the private sector for a while now, and at least with Stark, she knew more or less what to expect.  There were still questions, though.

 

“Would you be my boss, sir?” she asked.

 

Stark shook his head cheerfully.  “Nope! That would be Pepper! We can’t have you tied directly to the Avengers for obvious reasons, and we both know that everybody’s going to be watching.  Your name was dropped as a high-ranking person of interest in the infodump, and while I was able to pull a lot of information, I couldn’t pull all of it. Even I’m not that good.”

 

“And pulling everything would have just shown the world that we had something to hide,” Maria countered.

 

“That, too,” Stark agreed.

 

“I will prepare my resume,” Maria told him seriously.

 

Stark stood up.  “Excellent,” he said, clapping his hands together.  “Then my job is done. Because there’s no way Pep’s going to turn you down.  You’re way too good to let anybody else have you.”

 

Maria was flattered, but she kept her expression neutral as she saw Stark out of her office in the Avengers Tower.  She knew her worth, but it was nice to see that others did, as well.

 

Once she was sure that there weren’t any prying ears, she engaged the privacy protocols.  “Jarvis, Sigma-Heta-Iota-Epsilon-Lambda-Delta.” She heard the low click that indicated that Jarvis had turned off active monitoring in the room.

 

There was a dedicated hard-line that Stark had installed just for her, and as she dialed, she mused that she’d have to come up with a different privacy command in the near future.  There was no point in making things worse by being obviously loyal to SHIELD still.

 

“Hill,” a familiar voice greeted.  Nick sounded tired and in pain, and Maria wasn’t surprised.  He’d been shot and rolled and then shot some more; it was a miracle he wasn’t actually dead.  Then again, Maria wasn’t entirely sure that dying actually voided one’s contract with SHIELD. It certainly hadn’t done Phil Coulson any good.

 

“Sir,” Maria greeted, not bothering with formalities.  “Stark has invited me to submit my resume for Stark Industries’ Head of Security.”

 

There was a moment of silence, then, and Maria waited patiently, leaning against the wall while she listened to her boss - soon-to-be former boss, she realized almost regretfully - breathing on the other end.  “You going to accept?” Nick asked at last.

 

“Yes, of course,” Maria replied instantly, as if there had ever been any doubt.  It would give her a good excuse to stick close to the Avengers. Plus, she genuinely liked Pepper Potts, and would be more than happy to work for her.  Not to mention that Stark hadn’t been kidding about the benefits package. There was a good reason that Stark Industries had their choice of some of the very best and brightest people in the world.

 

“Good,” Nick approved.  He paused again, hesitant.  Maria waited. “Take care of them, would you?” Nick asked at last.  “I’m gonna be MIA for a while, I think, and I’d like to know there’s somebody I can trust keeping an eye on things.”

 

Maria smiled, warm inside at the thought that Nick was entrusting her with the safety and well-being of the bunch of brilliant, super-powered individuals that made up the Avengers.  Not to mention the normal humans that lived and worked among them, people like Jane Foster and James Rhodes. It was a huge responsibility, and one that she planned to take very seriously.  Provided, of course, that she got the job.

 

She paused for a moment, weighing potential replies in her mind, before she asked.  “And Phil, sir?”

 

“He’s been reassigned,” Fury told her.  Maria’s mouth tightened; Barton and Romanov weren’t going to like that.  Fury seemed to agree, because he continued. “It’s temporary. I really need him on this one.  Afterwards, he’ll be dropping by Stark’s place. So tell the Wonder Twins to behave.”

 

Maria snorted, and Fury made a huff of agreement.  The two agents were going to do what they wanted. So far, though, it seemed that being a part of the Avengers was enough incentive for them to toe the line and follow orders, mostly.

 

“Understood, sir,” she said.

 

After that, there was really nothing more to say.  Neither one of them believed in long conversations or drawn out good-byes. Maria had made her report, and Nick had given his approval.  So they said their farewells and disconnected. Maria stood there for a moment afterwards, then covered the phone back up and reached under her desk for a button, reactivating Jarvis.

 

“Jarvis?” Maria asked quietly.

 

“Yes, Deputy Director?” the AI asked.

 

“Could you please inform Mr. Stark that I will submit my resume to Miss Potts before the day’s end?” she requested.

 

“Of course,” Jarvis replied, and Maria smiled as she settled at her desk.

 

It was nice to be wanted.


End file.
